Inclusive Leadership Communication and Public Trust: A Discourse-Historical Analysis of Zohran Mamdani’s Victory Speech and Its Implications for Education Management

This study analyzes inclusive leadership communication and public trust in Zohran Mamdani’s victory speech after being elected mayor of New York City. The speech, published by The Guardian, was selected because it constructs strong messages of affordability, working-class dignity, immigrant belonging, and democratic hope. This research aims to examine how leadership discourse represents social actors, builds legitimacy, and creates a sense of collective belonging through Ruth Wodak’s Discourse-Historical Approach. This study uses a qualitative discourse analysis method by focusing on four discursive strategies: nomination, predication, argumentation, and perspectivation. The findings show that Mamdani’s speech constructs workers, immigrants, minorities, tenants, and volunteers as legitimate political actors, while elite power is represented as a structure that must be challenged. The speech also links historical exclusion with present struggle and future hope. This study concludes that inclusive leadership communication can strengthen public trust by recognizing marginalized voices, building collective identity, and transforming political messages into ethical and socially responsive leadership discourse. The findings offer implications for education management, especially in developing inclusive, culturally responsive, and trust-building communication in educational institutions